Author: molsen4

Here we are again. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were scanning “Best of 2015” book lists, reviewing community suggestions, shuffling through book reviews, and sifting through various paperbacks at breakneck reading speeds all in hopes of finding the next Go Big Read book. Through all this arduous research and reading, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond was ultimately selected for the 2016-2017 Go Big Read text, in hopes of connecting the UW-Madison community through a thought-provoking read backed by campus-wide programming and curricular integration. We watched Chancellor Rebecca Blank and Bucky Badger hand out copies of Evicted at Convocation in September to bright-eyed freshman; we witnessed 220 classes read and discuss the book; and we met Desmond in-person on his November 1st campus visit.

However, even though we still have an entire spring semester of celebrating and reading Evicted, which was recently named on the New York Times‘ and Washington Post‘s Best Books of 2016 lists, it’s time to start thinking about the future again.

We now need to select the 2017-2018 Go Big Read text and we need your help. We ask for your suggestions, recommendations, and support as we go through the latest review process, because at the end of the day this is a common read program—it’s driven and supported by the greater UW-Madison community, and therefore, your input is integral to the program’s success.

Go Big Read book suggestions are now being accepted!

This year we are looking for a book on a contemporary theme that lends itself to discussion. Considering all that is going on in the world today, there are so many important issues to discuss and cover. A broad-reaching theme for the 2017-2018 text is key to hearing from all the subjects of importance.

If you have a text in mind or want to read about the criteria we use in selecting a book, you can learn more here. If you are ready to suggest a book, please submit your nomination using this form. We will be accepting suggestions until January 22, 2017.

On the UW campus, the lunch hour tends to be a sacred refuge from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It’s a beloved time to sit and relax for students, professionals, and professors alike—an hour of time carved out between classes, studying, grant writing, emails, or intensive research to enjoy a pb&j, a food cart delicacy, or a State Street find. I often find myself chatting with a friend with pork buns in hand on Library Mall, relishing in the moment I have to forget about the stress of my day.

The lunch rush at the food trucks on library mall. (Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison)

However, last month, professors, students, and community members sacrificed this meal time for a very worthy cause: to learn more about the eviction crisis in Dane County.

The panel was held in lieu of recent findings of a study by six UW-Madison graduate students and Revel Sims, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The Dane County study, titled “Evicted in Dane County, Wisconsin: A Collaborative Examination of the Housing Landscape” reflected similar findings to the Milwaukee Area Renter’s Survey (MARS), which was conducted by Evicted author Matthew Desmond. Sims et al.’s research overwhelmingly found that “race is the most important factor in explaining evictions in Dane County,” with “most non-white neighborhoods showing rates well above the county average” (Doug Erickson, madison.com).

The study resulted from a collaborative effort between Sims and his students and the Tenant Resource Center (TRC) this past summer. The team interviewed and worked with key actors, like lawyers and tenants, and also accumulated eviction data in Dane County from the past 15 years. With such intensive and well-rounded research, the work provided significant insight into the Madison rental market and eviction situation on the basis of race and income.

Dane County, Wisconsin.

Sims and his team found that there were 40,439 eviction court cases in Dane County from 2000 to 2015 alone, with an average of 2,527 cases per year (Evicted in Dane County, Wisconsin). Among these evictions, the top six block groups (“neighborhoods” so to speak) leading in eviction rates were among those with the most proportion of minority residents. As Wisconsin Public Radio shares, nine out of ten of the “most nonwhite neighborhoods in the county have an eviction filing rate well above average for block clusters between 600 and 3,000 people” (Avory Brookins, WPR). For instance, the block named Allied Drive, which is on the southwestern edge of Lake Monona, had the second most evictions in the 15 year period, with a total of 1,215 evictions; Allied Drive also had the second most non-white population, with 78.04% of the residents identified as non-white. Meanwhile, neighborhoods like Southdale/East Badger Road and Leopold claimed the seventh and eighth highest eviction rates in the city—between the two alone, there were 1,550 evictions in a 15 year period. Like the Allied Drive neighborhood, Southdale and Leopold blocks were also overwhelmingly non-white in population, with the second and third most non-white residents in the Madison area, respectively.

The sight of an eviction notice is more common for people of color than whites in Dane County.

Most upsetting, however, is how the research notes not only the ongoing positive correlation between eviction and race, but also how eviction may provide a means to upholding neighborhood racial segregation. As the researchers explain, “block groups with the greatest number of evictions are often found directly adjacent to block groups that have some of the highest percentages of non-white residents”. This may suggest that “eviction may serve as a means to ‘police’ the boundaries between different communities and thus contribute to the overall pattern of racial segregation” (Evicted in Dane County, Wisconsin).

At the event, panelists delved deeper into the report’s findings and discussed the real world realities of overwhelming non-white evictions in the Madison area. Konkel, of the TRC, witnesses the housing difficulties of people of color first hand, sharing that her organization serves “50 to 60 percent people of color in [its] programs”. However, as she notes, considering Dane County is only around 15% non-white, the figures suggest that housing instability unjustly affects people of color more than whites (Avory Brookins, WPR). Her reality firmly supports Sims et al.’s data.

Panelists share their insight to the eviction situation in Dane County on October 27, 2016.

Meanwhile, panelists also grappled with the causes of non-white eviction levels. Some pointed to the unjust advantage landlords have in the legal system. Panelist Wegleitner said “the state court system’s online database, known as CCAP, is ‘a huge problem’ for many people trying to find housing because landlords often use the information to screen potential tenants” (Doug Erickson, madison.com). Eviction notices tend to be problematic because they remain in the system, visible to future landlords, even if the case was dropped or thrown out. This can lead to long-term housing difficulties for tenants, especially those of color who are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system; housing becomes more tenuous and eviction more likely. Other structural and social issues can also push people of color into poverty and, as a result, high levels of eviction.

Overall, Sims and the panelists shared that they were not surprised that the housing system is racially biased. As Sims shared in his own words, “we have a long history of racism in housing in this country” and “some of our most important legislation emerged to prevent it.” However, “to think it has gone away because of the 1968 Fair Housing Act[,] is ludicrous.” (Doug Erickson, madison.com).

Clearly much work still needs to be done to change the nature of the housing market for the better, especially here in our own backyard.

For more information on Revel Sims and his students’ findings, please check out their study, here.

This week Wisconsin School of Business students and the Go Big Read program partnered to harness art as a means to further investigate the ideas presented in Go Big Read social justice texts. The result was 20 unique pieces of art, aimed to address social issues.

LEAD students creating their prints in Wheelhouse Studios.

LEAD focused on printmaking as a way of securing social change.

Students part of the LEAD Course: Principles in Leadership, Ethics, Authenticity, and Development (an introductory program for freshman students directly admitted to the Business School) throughout the semester have “engaged in social entrepreneurship projects aimed at helping solve societal problems” (Angela Richardson, Program Coordinator). One of the main focuses of the course was the integration of Go Big Read texts Just Mercy and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

Art created by LEAD students.

Reading these texts as part of their curriculum, students were asked throughout the semester “to make an effort to identify the major themes and important takeaways” of the books, as they related to social justice and inequalities (bus.wisc.edu). Noting striking statistics, imagery, and more, “the information [students] gathered and the ideas they generated were then used as inspiration” for the artistic project.

Earlier this week, in Memorial Union’s Wheelhouse Studios, all this prep and brainstorming came to fruition. Drawing on inspiration from historical and current social justice movement posters and evoking their own knowledge from the texts, all 120 students implemented their creativity, collaboratively hand-making 20 beautiful posters.

The project not only allows “students to practice a set of skills that are useful in both business and in life – collaboration, analysis, communication, leadership, creative thinking, and empathy, among others [–]” but, it also gives first year students the opportunity to grapple with challenging social issues like mass incarceration and housing instability in American today.

Art created by LEAD students in partnership with the Go Big Read Program.

Furthermore, “by working together in small groups to design and create their own posters, they add their voices to the on-going dialogue around these issues”, contributing to a more aware and concerned campus community (bus.wisc.edu).

We are eager to see what the next set of LEAD students creates in partnership with the Go Big Read program!

Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, visited this past Tuesday, November 1st, giving eager students, faculty, and community members an informative and engaging presentation.

The much anticipated keynote event for UW’s 2016 Go Big Read program had motivated people to claim their spot in line as much as two hours before doors opened.Ready with tickets in hand, guests quickly congregated in the entrance, main hall, and lobby of Memorial Union, waiting for the doors of Shannon Hall to open. Others also awaited at several livestream locations across campus and the Madison area, eager to hear the UW alum speak, and, still more, enthusiastically awaited the start of the livestream feed from the comfort of their own home, with laptops in hand.

Enthusiastic UW senior, Maddie Colbert, gives the camera a thumbs up as she waits to enter the theatre.

The crowd was excited when UW Chancellor Becky Blank took the stage to introduce Desmond. She noted on the broad reach of the program, with over 225 participating classes, and the overwhelming response the text has received. As she shared, “Matt shows the devastating consequences of eviction” and she warmly welcomed him onto the stage. Desmond himself took to the podium, with clicker and slides ready, to share his experiences and research with the crowd.

Becky Blank introduces Desmond at the Go Big Read 2016 Keynote.

Desmond framed his lecture with the story of one of the eight families he worked with while in Milwaukee, the story of single-mother Arleene and her two sons, Jori and Jafaris. Coupled with compelling images and revealing statistics, he explained that Arleene is not alone with her housing struggles. Like many other low income families, she spends at least 80% of her income on rent, leaving her and her children with little to none for other living necessities like food and clothes.

One of Arleene’s homes in Milwaukee.

Desmond emphasized how eviction affects the young and the old, the sick and the able-bodied alike. Recounting how Jafaris got mad and violent with a teacher at school, prompting a police visit to their home that nearly ensured her an eviction, Desmond highlighted the wide grasp eviction has on all parts of life.

While on stage, the author also touched on the long term consequences of eviction. Given that all evictions are recorded and publicly visible on the Wisconsin Court public records database, finding a home thereafter is nearly impossible. Arleene herself called nearly ninety apartments before one finally accepted her application. The link between mental health and housing stability was discussed, too. Desmond alerted the crowd to the increased rate of depression among mothers following an eviction, and the rising rate of suicides.

The author stressed throughout his presentation that one’s home is the center of life, a refuge from work, school, and the menace of the streets. It’s where we play and retreat; it’s where we settle down. The word for home in different languages evokes warmth, family, and community. Eviction, he asserted, can cause the loss of all of this.

The issues discussed were heavy and disheartening – what can be done to change the crisis? Desmond closed his talk with a call to action, with hope for the future of the housing landscape. What if all families had housing? Kids could be fed, kept off the street and in their schools; parents could better maintain a stable job and healthy environment for their children.

He directed the audience to his organization Just Shelter, where all may stay informed and get involved with organizations working to fight this problem. He encouraged students to get involved with organizations on-campus, such as Habitat for Humanity, or those off campus, such as Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Project and Fair Housing Center of Greater Madison. His hope that as years pass, we come to hate poverty, eviction, and homelessness more and more and for all of us – students, faculty, and community members alike – to participate, continue discussion, and actively work to correct this issue that directly affects the very communities we live in.

Earlier this month, an unlikely pair, President Barack Obama and rapper Macklemore, teamed up to address an increasingly dire issue in America: opioid addiction. The two appeared on the South Lawn in promotion of an MTV documentary, “Prescription for Change: Ending America’s Opioid Crisis,” that addresses the overwhelming epidemic of opioid drug abuse in the US today, which ranges from the abuse of pain killers to heroin to Fentanyl (Sandra Gonzales, CNN). Within the film, the pair and recovering addicts share their own experiences with drug use in hopes of educating millennials about the consequences of addiction and to dissuade all of opioid abuse.

This new documentary and presidential focus on opioid addiction stems from the increasing abuse of opioids in the past 10 to 12 years. Since 2000 there has been a 200% increase in opioid related drug overdoses across the country. In certain regions, including Appalachia, New England, and the Southwest, these numbers are even more dramatic. For instance, based on a New York Times inquiry, New Mexico has been dramatically hit by the issue, where there were 27.3 opioid related deaths per 100,000 in 2014. This figure compares to the national average of 14.7 opioid related deaths per 100,000 in the same year. What’s most shocking however, is perhaps how both of these numbers contrast to the figures we saw only ten years ago: opioid related overdose deaths have increased more than 2 times since 2003, when there were only 6.2 opioid related deaths per 100,000 (cdc.gov).

Not only has abuse increased, but the demographics surrounding opioid addiction has dramatically changed. In the 1980s and 1990s opioid use was equally split between racial minorities and whites and was often focused in urban, inner city areas. Today, use has morphed—as President Obama highlights, “the opioids crisis is getting into communities that are suburban, that are relatively well to do, rural communities, white communities” (Sandra Gonzales, CNN). The new faces of opioid and heroin addiction are mostly suburban and rural whites from lower-middle class to upper-middle class families.

The graph indicates the number of deaths from prescription opioid pain relievers, not including non-prescribed opioids like heroin, in America the last 15 years.

The overall increase and shift in demographics leads many to conclude that prescription pain-killers are to blame. Often easily offered to middle class suburbanites, drugs like Hydrocodone and Oxycodone have become over-prescribed. This over-access to narcotics has provided a stepping stone to addiction and possibly spurred the opioid epidemic as a whole. As Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has highlighted, “prescriptions for powerful painkillers have risen to the point that there’s enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills” (Alexandra Sifferlin, TIME). This is astounding, especially when considering that other countries—where drugs like Vicodin are not readily prescribed—tend to witness lower opioid abuse levels. In the United States around 6% of Americans practice opioid use while countries with more restrictive practices (where only 0.5% of the population has a prescription to use) see a mere 2% use level. In fact, the US, which constitutes only 5% of the world population, receives a whopping 80% of the world’s prescription opioid supply (Michael Zennie, The Daily Mail). The prescription levels of narcotics also correlates to increased abuse of opioids on the state level. For example, states like West Virginia and Tennessee in Appalachia and Nevada and Utah in the Southwest see both above average narcotic prescription rates and large amounts of opioid abuse and overdose (Haeyoun Park and Matthew Bloch, The New York Times). In West Virginia, for instance, there were around 120 prescriptions written for opioids in 2014 for every 100 people; meanwhile, in Minnesota, a state that has remained largely removed from the opioid epidemic, there were only 60 prescriptions per 100 (cdc.gov).

Outside the data, average Americans are taking notice of the opioid epidemic, too. In recent years, the drug abuse issue has become more visible to the public both in terms of neighborhood visibility and national media coverage. For instance, most millennials today are able to identify a friend or relative that has abused opioids in some capacity. Nationally, much attention was given to the premature passing of pop star Prince, who overdosed on Fentanyl this summer. This increasing visibility has been quite acute for my own hometown of Chanhassen, Minnesota, where within a year the community grieved the loss of both a beloved classmate and a local leader, Prince, to opioid overdose.

Prince overdosed on Fentanyl this summer in his Paisley Park studio in Minnesota.

The visibility of opioid use itself has reached previously unprecedented levels, especially with heroin. The New York Times notes users openly abusing heroin in public spaces, like on city buses or even in fast food bathrooms, while leaving children unattended (Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times). Many average Americans are experiencing opioid addiction and abuse right before their eyes.

The opioid epidemic is also recognized in our own community in Wisconsin. As the Badger Herald explored last winter, many UW-Madison community members have struggled with opioid addiction and the state as a whole has witnessed increased opioid use and overdose in recent years. As the graphics below demonstrate, heroin cases in Wisconsin have increased from 2009 to 2014 in over half of the state’s counties; the number of counties with 30 or more cases related to heroin has jumped from a mere 4 in 2009 to a whopping 11 counties in 2014.

2009 Heroin Cases by County in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Dept. of Justice.

20014 Heroin Cases by County in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Dept. of Justice.

As the Herald explains, often times abuse can have serious and unexpected consequences, affecting almost every aspect of one’s life. Mentally, addiction can lead to depression, and possibly brain damage. If untreated, these debilitating outcomes of abuse can influence a wide range of important life factors, including the ability to keep employment, sustain personal relationships, or attend school. Meanwhile, on the flip side, the instability of addiction often leads many to lose their income and the support of friends and family members. Frequently this loss of financial and emotional support comes at the worst time, plummeting many further into addiction. One can see how these factors create a vicious and debilitating cycle of abuse. Other consequences of addiction include family dissolution and the removal of children from the home, aggression and violence, lack of appropriate diet and nutrition, and the establishment of unstable and toxic drug-based relationships.

However, one particularly serious consequence of opioid addiction is housing instability and homelessness. Often times many users are left without the proper income to maintain their home, pay utility costs, or pay their often unjustly high rent costs. This consequence of opioid addiction was seen first hand in Evicted, this year’s Go Big Read book by Matthew Desmond. The portrait of Scott demonstrated the debilitating consequences of drug abuse—his opioid addiction led him, like many others, to housing instability.

Many residents of College Mobile Home Park on the South Side of Milwaukee faced opioid drug addiction.

Scott started off his opioid problem like many Americans: with a prescription to Percocet after an injury. Wisconsin, like a majority of states, has a middle of the road opioid prescription level, with roughly 75 narcotics prescriptions per 100 people (cdc.gov). It was standard enough for Scott to receive the opioids, but unfortunately, he was soon hooked. Within the first few weeks of taking the medication, he started to look at the doctor as a “treasure […], like a bartender who pours to the rim”(Evicted, p. 83). He returned often to refill. However, once the M.D. announced his retirement, Scott went into a panic; he needed Percocet to cope with both his physical and emotional pain and he didn’t know what he would do without it. As the Badger Herald explains, this progression of use to abuse is common. Painkillers like Percocet can be extra addictive because they not only create a euphoric and relaxed feeling, but cause the body to stop producing natural levels of dopamine, the “happiness” chemical. For people who are taking a prescription for a few weeks, like Scott, “the body stops producing dopamine and the medication ends up as the body’s only source” of the needed chemical (Emma Palasz, The Badger Herald). The body ends up requiring the opioid to produce any dopamine. Thus Scott, depressed and in need, turned to alternatives: he first purchased painkillers from his nursing home patients and eventually abused Fentanyl, the same drug that killed Prince.

Fentanyl, the drug Scott abused, is part of the opioid epidemic in America.

His Fentanyl addiction became all consuming and came with consequences—Scott lost his nursing licence and thus flow of income. He was then evicted from his upscale apartment on the East Side of Milwaukee. Discouraged and hopeless, Scott checked into The Lodge, a shelter, and eventually moved into the mobile home park with his friend Teddy (Evicted, p. 84). In the park, he found many fellow addicts and began abusing methadone pills and later heroin. Upon eviction from the park, he continued on a road of temporary and unstable housing and the cycle of sobriety, relapse, and addiction.

It was only after Scott was able to find a permanent and stable residence that he was able to kick his drug addiction completely, highlighting the strong connection between opioid abuse and housing precariousness. Although he still did not have his nursing license or a set income, he was able to find assistance through the Guest House, a shelter, that provided him with $600 a month for rent and furnishings for his new apartment. As he explains, in the trailer park in his sub-standard housing, he felt stuck, like there was no hope. In his new space, “[he] felt affirmed, deserving of something better” (Evicted, p. 280). Scott was able to get back on track, writing out a 5 year plan that included getting his nursing license back.

As the story of Scott and Evicted demonstrates, the opioid epidemic and housing instability go hand in hand. Although Scott’s story began with opioid abuse, which later led to eviction, often times eviction itself can lead to a string of terrible consequences that pushes many to drug abuse. Either way, eviction is a painful and destabilizing reality that many face. Those that have been evicted have a 15% higher chance of being laid off than workers without displacement. Those that have experienced eviction face 20% higher levels of material hardship than those that have not. Those that have been forced to move are 25% more likely to experience future housing instability (Evicted, p.294-5). It is apparent that eviction has dire consequences for many that lead to severe instability and possibly homelessness. As such, whether an opioid abuser or not, home displacement contributes to the desire for escape and fosters an environment that is conducive to addiction. Unfortunately, both opioid abuse and eviction in a sense play into one another.

However, hopefully with increasing measures to curb both the opioid epidemic and eviction levels in America, needed changes with both abuse and displacement are to come. It was recently announced that MARS, Desmond’s own innovative and effective survey for measuring eviction, will be integrated into HUD’s national American Housing Survey, providing meaningful understanding about eviction on a national level. Meanwhile, President Obama and legislators have been pushing strongly in the past year to combat opioid addiction, passing major legislation last spring to help curb the epidemic. Hopefully, change will come on both fronts.

As Matthew Desmond, author of this year’s Go Big Read book Evicted, began his research on eviction in the city of Milwaukee several years ago, he found that both court records and academic literature failed to answer many of his questions surrounding eviction. In his initial search for information, he “found no study – no readily available data – that addressed [his] questions” (Evicted, p. 328). This posed an obvious problem to his research and left many integral questions unanswered; and, as it turned out, he would have to find the data himself.

In need of answers, Desmond developed a groundbreaking survey, the Milwaukee Area Renters Study, or “MARS”. This comprehensive survey, which involved 1,100 tenants across the city, was overseen by our own University of Wisconsin Survey Center (UWSC), “an academic research organization that specializes in reaching understudied groups: kids in foster care, welfare recipients, the homeless” Andrew Flowers, FiveThirtyEight. With the support of the UWSC’s top-notch training program and skilled team of workers, the MARS survey had an incredible response rate. And, opposed to past research (which seemed to be asking the wrong questions about housing), the MARS survey proved to ask the right ones. All 250 questions prompted tangible responses from participants about matters involving eviction, housing, residential mobility, and urban poverty.

Milwaukee’s redeveloped river front provides a stark contrast to the city’s North Side.

The strength and quality of the MARS survey led to astonishing results, including, that 1 in 8 Milwaukee renters experienced at least one forced move within the two years prior to the survey (Evicted, p. 330).

MARS and its groundbreaking data formed the backbone for Evicted and provided for the development of a renewed discussion on housing prices, urban poverty, and much more within Wisconsin. However, MARS, too, has had a more national reach: the study’s techniques are set to be integrated into HUD’s national American Housing Survey starting in 2017.

As Desmond shares in a recent article from FiveThirtyEight, a site dedicated to hard numbers and statistical analysis on topics ranging from sports to elections, this is a major step forward for understanding eviction, poverty, housing costs, and displacement on a national level. With the integration of MARS into the HUD survey, researchers and policymakers will be able to more accurately understand the realities of poverty and eviction across the country, thus prompting a more holistic discussion of housing issues and spurring “policymakers to take [these issues] seriously” Andrew Flowers, FiveThirtyEight. As a result, much needed improvements to housing and housing costs will hopefully be made.